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by aliii1329
Summary: This is my idea of what could have happened if Jesse had reacted slightly differently to the knowledge that Michael was the one who burned him. One-shot.


Unfortunately, I don't own Burn Notice. This is what I think could have happened when Jesse finally found out who burned him. Enjoy!

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Michael opened the door to his mother's house, calling out as he turned to close the door behind him. He assumed that since he was running late, Fi, Sam, and Jesse would already be here. However when no one answered his greeting, he got an uneasy feeling. Something wasn't right.

He made his way to the kitchen and froze at the sight he found. Sam and his mom were standing against one wall with matching horrified expressions. Michael felt his own face twist into a mirror image of theirs when he caught sight of the other two occupants of the room. Jesse was standing in the middle of the kitchen, with a gun pointed at Fi's head.

Michael couldn't help but let out a horrified gasp when Fi's eyes met his and he saw the fear in them. He figured that Jesse must have discovered the secret that the four of them had been trying so hard to keep. His suspicions were confirmed a few moments later when Jesse spoke.

"So you're the one who burned me," he stated, not taking eyes off Fiona.

"Uh, uh," he scolded when he saw Michael's hand move to grab his gun from the small of his back. "If you think you can get that gun, line up a shot, and fire before I pull the trigger, be my guest."

Michael sighed in defeat and slowly moved his hand away from his back. If it had been anyone else, he might have tried, but he wasn't willing to gamble with Fi's life.

"Look, Jesse, let Fi go and we can talk about this," Michael tried to bargain. If he could just get her out of the line of fire, then he could probably diffuse the situation without any bloodshed.

"There's nothing to talk about," Jesse responded. "And Fiona's not going anywhere," he finished coldly.

Michael held his hands up in surrender. "You vowed to put a bullet in the person who burned you. That's me. Fi has nothing to do with this." He would gladly take the shot if it meant Fi would remain safe, but Jesse shook his head.

"At first, all I wanted to do was shoot you," he started, "but then I changed my mind. You didn't take my life, so I'm not going to kill you. You took the thing that mattered most to me, so I think I'll return the favor," he explained, gesturing towards Fiona with the gun.

Madeline let out a strangled cry and Sam placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Michael wanted to cry out as well once he realized that Jesse wasn't bluffing. He knew that he had to figure out something soon, or Fi would end up with a bullet in her head. His face twisted into a pained expression at the thought.

"Jesse, Fi didn't approve of this," he started to explain, hoping Jesse would start to question himself. "She wanted to tell you from the beginning; she hated that I was making everyone lie to you. She didn't do anything wrong!"

Jesse scoffed. "She didn't want to tell me bad enough to actually do it, did she?" he questioned, continuing before anyone answered. "We both know exactly where her loyalties lie," he finished before clicking the safety off.

Michael started to panic. The situation had went from bad to worse and he had no clue how to stop Jesse. He was too far away to try and push Fi out of the way or charge Jesse and mess up his aim. He didn't know what to do, and he felt a slight twinge of relief when Fi started speaking. Maybe she could talk her way out of this.

"Jesse… don't do this," she begged, tears gathering in her eyes.

He shook his head. "That's not gonna work. You've been lying to me from the beginning. I thought we were friends. I thought I meant something to you," he spat.

"You did. You do," she answered.

"Please," he scoffed, "The only person you care about is Michael."

She shook her head, "No, Jesse, I care about you, too."

"That's not good enough," was his clipped response.

"I care about you a lot." She paused and then finished with, "I have feelings for you."

Everyone in the room froze in response. Sam felt his mouth open in surprise, Madeline face went from horrified to confused, and Michael's went from panicked to horrified. Jesse let the gun lower a few inches and couldn't hide the surprise on his face.

"What?" he questioned.

"Come on, Jesse. You can't tell me you didn't feel anything during that kiss," she said.

Sam's eyebrows rose and he realized that Charles hadn't been lying or confused when he said the couple following him had been making out in the alley. Michael's face, if at all possible, looked even more pained at the mention of the word kiss. This time, Jesse couldn't have hidden his surprise from a toddler, much less the trained operatives in the room, and the gun dropped another few inches lower.

Madeline, however, was the only one who realized what was going on. Fiona was doing a convincing job persuading Jesse that she had feelings for him, but Madeline saw through it. Fi had obviously picked up on the same signs Madeline had during her kidnapping, and was now using them to her advantage. Madeline wouldn't normally approve, but Jesse was pointing a gun at the woman she saw as a surrogate daughter, so she didn't care what Fiona said to him if it meant she would get out of this mess alive.

She decided to jump into the conversation and try to help convince him. "She's telling the truth, Jesse. She came to me the other day for help sorting out her feelings," she said, hoping he would buy it.

Jesse's gaze moved from Fiona to Madeline as she spoke, the gun dropping a few inches more.

Michael took advantage of his diverted gaze and quickly closed the distance between them. He was in front of Fiona with his gun aimed at Jesse before he even had time to process that Michael had moved.

"Drop the gun," he demanded, his voice deadly. He could feel Fi trembling behind him, and half of him wanted to shoot Jesse for even daring to threaten her.

Jesse didn't comply right away, and Michael took the safety off his gun. "Jesse," he said warningly, "I'm not Michael Westen, the controlled spy right now. I'm Michael, the guy whose girlfriend you just had a gun pointed at. And Michael would be perfectly happy to shoot," he threatened.

Jesse realized that Michael was dead serious and his grip on the gun loosened. It clattered to the floor, and Michael sent it spinning away with his foot, his own gun still aimed at Jesse.

He moved closer and started to whisper quietly enough that no one but Jesse could hear him. "I could kill you right now," he said, pressing the gun to Jesse's chest, "and I will if you ever come near her again. You've been a friend these past few months, so I'm not going to shoot you today. But I promise that if I ever hear from you again, or I ever find out that you were so much as in the same county as Fiona, I will track you down and put a bullet in your head. Understood?" he growled quietly.

Jesse nodded, knowing that Michael would carry out his threat. The look in his eyes was frightening, and Jesse knew Michael didn't mess around when it came to Fiona.

Michael walked back to Fi and wrapped her in his arms, burying his face in her hair. After this, he had half a mind to cable tie the two of them together to keep her out of danger. He smiled slightly at how well that was sure to go over.

When he glanced up a few seconds later, Jesse was gone.


End file.
